Three onlookers were injured when a show-off drifter reversed into them during a drifting display in Asir in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The three were taken to a local hospital for treatment, but claimed they were injured as they fell off their motorbikes, Saudi news site Sabq reported on Wednesday.

However, traffic police, alerted about the drifting accident posted on social media, launched an investigation and were able to identify those involved and eventually to arrest the drifter despite the non-cooperation of the three injured.

The police said they were referring the drifter to the legal authorities to take punitive action. In another drifting incident, the police in the Eastern Province said they were able to identify and arrest a drifter who used a rented car to show off on a public road.

The drifter reportedly used a car he took from a friend who had rented it and removed the licence plates to avoid being identified by the police. However, he was caught after a video of his reckless driving was posted online and triggered a wave of criticism.

The police said the drifter was on Tuesday sentenced to six months in jail.

Drifting, or “tafheet” as is known in Saudi Arabia, is banned in the kingdom and the local authorities have regularly launched campaigns to arrest thrill-seeking drifters who, with little regard for traffic, attempt to outperform one another in taking their cars to the limits of control and in drifting at high speeds. The practice has at times caused casualties among curious spectators.

The authorities, as a form of deterrence, have been treating all deaths related to drifting as homicides resulting from criminal negligence.

In November 2014, a court sentenced a well-known car drifter to ten years in prison and to 1,000 lashes.

The “King of Nadheem”, as the drifter called himself in reference to a district in the east of the Saudi capital Riyadh, was also banned from driving for life for causing the death of a passenger in his car as he was showing off his drifting skills, the court ruled.

The “King of Nadheem” gained fame in Saudi Arabia after his “exploits” in drifting, an extremely dangerous but hugely popular practice in the kingdom in which drivers deliberately spin out and skid sideways at high speeds, were posted on social media.